KENDRICK LAMAR is the only rapper to win a Pulitzer prize. He recently performed at the prestigious half-time Super Bowl slot. Rolling Stone regards him as “the most talented rapper of his generation”. His early hit “How Much A Dollar Cost?” tells the story of a homeless man asking for money and ends up being a dialogue with God: “Know the truth, it’ll set you free You’re lookin’ at the Messiah, the son of Jehovah, the higher power The choir that spoke the word, the holy spirit The nerve of Nazareth.” The refrain throughout his album D.A.M.N. is clear: “Ain’t nobody prayin’ for me.”
His previous record, Mr Morale & The Big Steppers, was an introspective, personal affair. GNX (the 1987 Buick GNX, the car he came home in after being born) brings a return to form. Lamar makes words dance on his tongue, forming a verbal music that is dizzying as it is spectacular. Underneath are the grinding rhythms of Afrobeat, gangsta rap, and hip-hop, the sweetness of soul, the basement pounding of funk, and a smattering of the avant-garde and spoken word.
On “Luther”, he speculates on the transforming power of God: “If this world was mine, I’d take your enemies in front of God Introduce ’em to that light, hit them strictly with that fire.” “Man at the garden” examines the tension between faith and fame: “A close relationship with God Whisper to me every time I close my eyes He say, ‘You deserve it all’ Dangerously, nothin’ changed with me, still got pain in me Flip a coin, want the shameless me or the famous me?” “Gloria” explores loyalties: “Hate it when I hit the club to get some bitches Wrote ’em off, rather see me hit the church and get religious.”
“Reincarnated” ends up in conversation with the Father: “Did I finally get it right?” Lamar admits his imperfections, but justifies himself by stopping warring gangs (“I put 100 hoods on one stage. . . I’m tryna push peace in LA”). Then the real character emerges: Lucifer. “You fell out of Heaven ’cause you was anxious Didn’t like authority Isaiah fourteen was the only thing that was prevalent.” Surprisingly, it ends with a repentant Satan: “I promise that I’ll use my gifts to bring understanding.”
A master storyteller, he writes songs that open up vistas on lives lived at the edge, of good people in bad places, trying to hold it together, while the system slowly and deliberately places its knee on their neck. As Buzzfeed put it, “[Lamar] is a noble soul at the vanguard of a culture that rewards the ignoble — a good kid who not only survived the mad city but got elected mayor.”
The album was released by pg-lang.com and Interscope (open.spotify.com).